A woman who lives on a limited income and relies on food pantries to get through the month told me she likes a particular church, “they let you pick out what you need. I’m on a special diet and I can’t eat a lot of foods.”

I like the food pantry at First Unitarian. They group the cans and bags by type and let people pick a few from each group. It’s very practical to do it that way. A food pantry exists to feed people, not randomly dispense groceries.

Matt Yglesias in Slate.com Money has a provocative post on why it is better to write a check, Can the Cans–Why Food Drives are a Terrible Idea

All across America, charitable organizations and the food industry have set up mechanisms through which emergency food providers can get their hands on surplus food for a nominal handling charge. Katherina Rosqueta, executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that food providers can get what they need for “pennies on the dollar.” She estimates that they pay about 10 cents a pound for food that would cost you $2 per pound retail. You’d be doing dramatically more good, in basic dollars and cents terms, by eating that tuna yourself and forking over a check for half the price of a single can of Chicken of the Sea.

Plenty of cans get distributed and it’s all well meant and does some good, but if you’re really getting into a particular charity it makes sense to find out what they need the most.